Here’s An Absolutely Brutal Video of the NYPD Shooting a Dog Trying to Protect His Owner

On Monday afternoon, the NYPD shot a dog that was trying to protect his unconscious owner, who, according to reports, had just suffered a seizure. As Gothamist reports:

Johnny Rodriguez, who was visiting the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary nearby, said he and three other people alerted nearby police officers that the owner of the dog was in danger of being hit by traffic. "He was having a seizure, I saw him lying down on the ground and his head was twitching and shaking." The two officers who responded called for backup ("I guess they didn't have the training or something") and the dog began growling as officers approached the man."I told one of the cops, 'Hey, that dog is growling, be careful,' because they were getting pretty close," Rodriguez says. "I used to have a pit bull and that's just how they are, they protect their owners." Rodriguez thought that one woman had placed herself too closely behind the man as she was observing what was happening. "It grabbed her pants, but it didn't bite her, then the dog starts running at the cop."

A police officer then shot the dog point blank. For the next few minutes, the dog lies there, writhing and bleeding, while a crowd gathers. It's an absolutely brutal scene.The dog is apparently still alive, and authorities are trying to locate his owner.

Cop is a rookie and should be shot instead, my friend has 2 dogs like that that help him when he gets a seizure the dogs are trained to sense it before it happens and then would help the owner get through the seizure. He has 2 American Bulldogs and those guys look serious and would protect the owner like any dog would do.

$#@!ing cop didn't even try to move or anything. Even after he shoots the dog he does nothing to move toward or help the owner who is still lying on the ground.....so what was the point of you getting close enough to piss off the dog? They didn't even try to calmly approach and let the dog know it was alright first. Ridiculous.

Jesus. That poor dog. Notice the $#@!ing idiot cop on the right in the video who fired a shot at the dog and also AT HIS PARTNER ???? The cop on the left hit the dog, the guy on the right missed and almost shot his partner. What a bunch of $#@!ing idiots. What the $#@! is going on with the NYPD ???????? And then they sit there and watch as the dog slowly dies insted of walking over and putting it out of its misery ?????
These guys should be strung up by their toenails and beaten to death. It's only a matter of time before people in NYC start randomly shooting cops for no reason. I can't wait till that happens.

I won't watch it either...I'd rather have to shoot a human being than a dog. OC spray (mace, pepper spray) works wonders on every dog I've sprayed, most get a whiff and haul ass. Tasers (which most agancies have) also work on dogs and without any lasting harmful affects. Poor dog.

I don't know LZH...I haven't and won't watch the video...do they even have Tasers? The beauty about a Taser is that you can take the cartridge off the end of it (the cartridge contains the two barbs that deploy when you shoot it...) and use the Taser as a normal "stun gun" by just touching the dog with the Taser and giving it a quick jolt.

Beyond that I'm sure they had a baton among them...take that out and poke the dog a time or two, or give it an assertive whack somewhere on the dog's body so it knows you mean business. You can do all these things before you shoot the poor animal.

I am still furious about this video this is by far the most inhumane brutal scene i have seen besides people getting beheaded, all the dog was doing is protecting his owner that was laying there. He warned the cops that he is defending the owner by growling, when the cop got 2 close the dog did a defensive charge at him and the $#@!ing trigger happy pussy shot the dog point blank. i really hope this video will get that ass hole out of the force, but knowing how corrupt the government is he will get a promotion next month.

Somewhere related to this story I saw a comment that said the dog "had a history of being overprotective of its owner." If I were lying on the ground incapacitated and had people coming at me, I would want my dog to protect me in the same way. Yes, the dog needed to be dealt with in this situation. It didn't require being shot with a gun. I would expect the cops to use spray, taze, baton, as mentioned above, before just drawing down and shooting the dog.

There are a lot of negative comments towards cops in this thread, and in some others. I should mention that I support good police officers 100%, officers with common sense and an understanding of their duties to us, the law-abiding public that pay their salaries. The cop that took the dog out needs to be fired.

Somewhere related to this story I saw a comment that said the dog "had a history of being overprotective of its owner." If I were lying on the ground incapacitated and had people coming at me, I would want my dog to protect me in the same way. Yes, the dog needed to be dealt with in this situation. It didn't require being shot with a gun. I would expect the cops to use spray, taze, baton, as mentioned above, before just drawing down and shooting the dog.

There are a lot of negative comments towards cops in this thread, and in some others. I should mention that I support good police officers 100%, officers with common sense and an understanding of their duties to us, the law-abiding public that pay their salaries. The cop that took the dog out needs to be fired.

This does kinda bug me. A dog, if you properly trained, is not as bad of a threat as someone makes it out to be. If it comes at you, there are numerous tactics to keep it away from your face, anyone can heal from lacerations to the arms or legs. Shooting it is only a last resort.

I won't watch it either...I'd rather have to shoot a human being than a dog. OC spray (mace, pepper spray) works wonders on every dog I've sprayed, most get a whiff and haul ass. Tasers (which most agancies have) also work on dogs and without any lasting harmful affects. Poor dog.

They should have pepper and a taser I would think. Why the gun was used first doesn't make sense with other options.